Thank you, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen.
Mr. Blais, we saw the report. It also includes unemployment insurance concerns, any wharf infrastructure.... Basically, anything that aids and abets from the federal government to fishermen and their communities could be construed as a subsidy. These are what the ongoing talks are about right now.
Of course we have addressed those to Minister Hearn and Minister Sullivan, the ambassador for fisheries, and they will be raising those concerns overseas.
Again, we only saw a draft report. There was nothing in concrete, as we say. So we'll be keeping a very close eye on that, but I would ask that you also keep a close eye on it.
Mr. Johnson, you had talked about the future of the fishery. I see it sort of the way you see it as well, except for one thing. Is there not a fear that eventually the raw resources we have off the coast here in Newfoundland can now be just transferred off to bigger freighters and ships somewhere else?
In central Canada, for example, whitefish is sent to China for processing and sold back to the stores. At the Safeway stores, it says “Product of Canada. Made in China.” My fear is that a lot of this raw resource we have will be sent out to the cheapest place to get it processed. So why land it here? Why not land it immediately on the bigger boats, the freighters that can be 200 miles off the coast, and send it right to China or wherever? That's my great fear.
Sir, you're absolutely correct: it's a renewable resource. Done right, it could hire your great-great-grandchildren in the future.
So thank you.